It took Ray Rice about six minutes to unload his mea culpa on Friday afternoon, to show contrition for the type of horrendous event that seemed so out of character for him.

Now he might spend the rest of his life trying to back it up.

The Baltimore Ravens running back knocked out his girlfriend – who has since become his wife -- at an Atlantic City casino in March in an incident that resonated further with the hotel security camera images of an unconscious woman dropped to the floor by Rice.

This may not ultimately define Rice. But the idea that a chiseled, thick, powerful, diesel of a running back -- who makes a living colliding with middle linebackers -- had enough physical contact to cause such damage will stick to his name for a long time.

No question, after entering a pre-trial diversion program this week, appearing in public to make a statement was a good step. With his voice cracking, Rice seemed sincere. He pledged a commitment to being a good husband, and a good father for the couple's two-year-old daughter, Rayven.

Yet even this moment was botched a bit. Rice, 27, began his statement by apologizing to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, then GM Ozzie Newsome and coach John Harbaugh – the major power brokers in an organization that, as its history has shown, stands by its players in the toughest situations.

The woman seated next to him at the team's headquarters, his wife Janay, should have been the first person he apologized to in public, even if it has been done already in private. Perhaps that was just another slip-up on the part of Rice, who didn't take questions from the media.

He wasn't the only one to fumble. The Ravens' official Twitter site posted that Janay Rice apologized for her role in the incident – inappropriate to be coming from the running back's employer.

It could be interpreted as blaming the victim.

Rice owned up to his mistake, which is part of the healing for a couple that was married a day after he was indicted. That she stuck with him is a powerful statement in itself.

Yet this will play out over the long haul.

The ensuing NFL suspension that is just around the corner might be the easiest penalty for Rice.

Restoring his tarnished image will be one of the hardest parts.

Rice had such a squeaky-clean, reputation as an admirable role model. He carried himself like a fun-loving man who enjoyed life, positive and upbeat. When you thought of Rice away from the field, chances are it had something to do with his community service – maybe his anti-bullying campaign aimed at the school-aged crowd.

But now Rice is an example of how fast a reputation can turn after one incident.

The mistake doesn't erase all of the good that Rice has done with his stature as a Ravens star. I hope that he still puts himself out there, trying to inspire the kids. But this now comes with some serious context, another reminder that nobody's perfect.

Hopefully, for everyone involved, there will never be another incident for a couple whose pressures now include public consumption of at least one of their issues.

Before the episode, this figured to be a challenging offseason for Rice, coming off his worst season. An offensive line in transition that wasn't exactly the powerful, dominating force of previous Ravens units, didn't help matters.

But Rice didn't have the explosiveness we've seen in the past, either.

He averaged a career-worst 3.1 yards per carry in 2013, and as he prepares for his seventh season with more than 1,400 NFL carries on his docket there's the question of whether he'll regain his burst.

That the Ravens drafted a running back in the fourth round, Coastal Carolina's Lorenzo Taliaferro, adds intrigue. Running backs sometimes get used up the NFL in a hurry, and increasingly the next runner to emerge in an NFL backfield comes with the relatively cheap price in the middle of the draft.

Rice has to deal with all of that, to prove that he can still be the player who not long ago was one if the NFL's most lethal multi-dimensional weapons. In 2011, he had more than 2,000 rushing-receiving yards from scrimmage.

But now Rice has a lot more to prove than just what he can deliver on the football field.